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Law firm Rajah & Tann gives back to charity

SINGAPORE: In a first for a legal firm in Singapore, Rajah & Tann has announced that it will give a portion of its earnings annually to social causes.

The funds, at least S$200,000 every year, will be disbursed through the newly set up Rajah & Tann Foundation.

The law firm said apart from the annual donations from earnings, plans are in the pipeline to organise events and activities to raise additional funds for the foundation.

The foundation may expand its programme to charitable causes in the region, in line with the firm's regional footprint and presence.

Managing Partner, Lee Eng Beng, said the setting up of this foundation is a further step to deepen Rajah & Tann's commitment to play the role of a socially responsible corporate citizen in the local and regional communities.

The Rajah & Tann Foundation will be administered by the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS), an independent, nonprofit organisation which matches donors with those in need of financial assistance.

An advisory committee, comprising Rajah & Tann's partners and staff, will work with the CFS to evaluate the applications of grants.

All were former Sports School students and gold medallists at the recent Guangzhou Asian Games.

Besides providing inspiration, they had words of advice for their juniors.

"I remember about seven years ago, I was also seated here (in the school hall) and it's going to be an incredible experience for you guys," Sherman said.

"You are going to have the time of your life, training and studying as well. It's going to be a very positive and good environment so make the best out of it and you know, one day, when your turn comes to represent Singapore, just do it and have fun Enjoy the experience."

Singapore offers to help flood-hit Australia

Channel NewsAsia
04 January 2011 2112 hrs

By Sara Grosse

SINGAPORE: Singapore has offered to help Australia in relief efforts in flood-hit Queensland.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean had written to the Australian Minister for Defence Stephen Smith to express Singapore's empathy with the Australian government and people as they grapple with the floods in Queensland, said a MINDEF spokesperson.

"Mr Teo mentioned that the SAF Chief of Defence Force (CDF), Lieutenant-General Neo Kian Hong, had over the New Year weekend conversed with the Australian CDF, Air Chief Marshal Allan Grant Houston, and offered the SAF's assistance," said the spokesperson.

Mr Teo has also written a letter to the Mayor of Rockhampton Brad Carter to express Singapore's empathy with the people of Rockhampton who have been affected by the floods.

Mr Teo also offered Singapore's assistance to Mayor Carter and mentioned that the people of Rockhampton have always extended a warm welcome and hospitality to SAF soldiers when they train there.

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has been training in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton over the past 20 years during the annual Exercise Wallaby.

Australian authorities have expressed appreciation for Singapore's offer and said they will contact Singapore if assistance is needed.

A resident evacuates his flooded home by kayak.

(Readers would have remembered how the Devil's Advocate tried to stir up a "storm in a teacup" when our own Orchard Rd was temporarily affected by flash floods but no lives were lost compared to the many lives lost in floods of other countries.)

SP donates projects to help community

Channel News Asia
04 January 2011 1934 hrs

By Monica Kotwani

SINGAPORE: Helping the community using innovative solutions, and the elderly to lead active, fulfilling lives.

These are the aims of students of Singapore Polytechnic's (SP) School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, who donated 23 of their final year projects to various organisations, hospitals and homes.

The donations are part of SP's Centre for Application and Rehabilitation Engineering (SP CARE) Project's annual Handing-Over Ceremony.

Singapore Polytechnic principal Tan Hang Cheong said: "There is now a greater awareness for many needs in society.

"What we want to do is produce graduates who are very aware of the needs of the community. They may not design another machine or another gadget, but hopefully because of their work with those who are in need, they will continue that heart of service, of giving".

One of the donations helps the elderly exercise with more ease.

Other innovative designs include a portable baby bath, and a touch-screen visual training device to improve hand-eye co-ordination.

Recipients of the projects include the KK Women's and Children's Hospital and the Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital.

For Goodness sake this is a personal blog and the fact that it has been aired together with so many other anti-Singapore views in the internet does not mean it is more democratic and factual like your own adulterated and biased views.

The best test for any aspirant to political power is at the polls that is conducted peacefully, fairly, without corruption or coercion, without vote buying, rigging or phantom votes and by secret ballot at regular intervals.

So don't try to fool others into believing that you are a strong proponent of your own version of democracy.

Singapore has survived so well through the democratic process that has envied people like you to try to discredit its efforts and achievements.

Very soon, common Singaporeans, not outsiders like you, will determine who should rule Singapore for the next four years. This is democracy in action, not your version of personal veiled attacks on Singapore at every opportunity.

The overall average grade of 40.8 is also higher than the previous year's 40.4.

The stellar results came despite the school being in the headlines twice last year, for the wrong reasons.

The results were marred by just one thing - the school did not achieve a 100 per cent pass rate, as it has done in previous years. One student did not fulfil the requirement for getting a diploma, graduating with a certificate instead. The exams were taken by its largest cohort of 441 students in November, a month after Dr Ong's (previous principal) resignation.

Dr Ong was credited with much of the school's academic and sporting success. Yesterday's results which capped four straight years of improvement since the IB was introduced, are also due to him in part, said acting principal Fanny Tan.

The results were all the more surprising, given that the students had more behavioural problems compared with previous batches, said Mrs Tan.

The Class of 2010 did not perform as well in school tests either, so teachers intensified one-to-one tutuorials and remedial classes to help them.

Perfect scorer Jared Ryan Durnford, 19, said he had more consultations with his literature teacher to improve. "Literature was a mandatory subject for the IB but I didn't take it for my O levels. So it was challenging," said the teenager, who hopes to study chemical engineering at Cambridge University.

The three Ministry of Education international schools which offer the IB diploma also released their results yesterday.

Aat St Joseph's Institution International, where 78 students took the IB exams, almost a quarter scored 40 points and above. Vietnamese student Do Minh Nguyet Nguyen, 18, had a perfect score.

Hwa Chong International's pioneer batch of 18 IB students all got diplomas. Its top performer David Wong scored 39.

The International Baccalaureate Organisation said yesterday that 57 students worldwide achieved the maximum score. (With 28 students from ACS(I), and one from SJII, Singapore is doing well! )

The crowd reacting jubilantly to the announcement of the IB results yesterday at the ACS (I) campus in Dover Road. The stellar results came after the school made the news twice last year, for the wrong reasons. Ex-principal Dr Ong has been credited with the results. -- ST PHOTO: RAJ NADARAJAN

He's Singapore's first winter games athlete

The Straits Times
Jan 7, 2011

By May Chen

LUCAS Ng is set to become the first athlete to represent Singapore at a major winter multi-sport event.

The 22-year-old, who holds a diploma in design communication from LaSalle College of the Arts, will compete in the 500m and 1,000m short-track speed-skating events at the Jan 30 to Feb6 Asian Winter Games in Kazakhstan.

Ng, who is waiting to enlist for national service, was shortlisted after the Games' organising committee invited the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) to send representatives.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Transport) Teo Ser Luck, who last February was the first to moot the idea of Singaporeans competing in winter sports, was delighted at the news.

He said: 'We should just celebrate the fact that Singapore has its first winter athlete. It's our first time participating in something like this and we have to manage expectations.

'We've never had a winter athlete and this in itself is a breakthrough.'

Ng, who last year slashed his 500m time from 57 seconds to 51, showing his stuff at the Marina Bay Sands skating rink. He will be heading for Kazakhstan to compete in the Asian Winter Games. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA

I am sure this will be of interest to Singaporeans because it has something to do with their CPF funds that get stretched and stretched repeatedly to defer redemption, http://www.temasekreview.net/2011/01...nkrupt-greece/.
This CPF 'stretching' even extends to Malaysians who have worked in Singapore but have since left the country.
The golden rule seems to be the longer I have use of your money the better for the country!

S'pore justice system top in global survey

Channel NewsAsia
07 January 2011 1341 hrs

By S Ramesh

SINGAPORE: Singapore's justice system has come out tops in an international survey.

Speaking at the opening of the new legal year, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said The Rule of Law Index 2010 by the World Justice Project ranked Singapore Number 1 for access to civil justice in the high income countries group.

In his speech, Singapore's new attorney general Sundaresh Menon spoke about the need for more lawyers to consider criminal law as an area of practice.

He said only a small number today practise criminal law predominantly, and the bar is finding it difficult to attract young entrants to their ranks.

He said this is a worrying trend.

Mr Menon said a vibrant criminal bar is vital for the maintenance of public confidence in the criminal justice system because of the role of the defence lawyer in safeguarding the interests of the accused person.

Polytechnic opens $2m restaurant

THE hospitality and tourism courses in the polytechnics are reeling in students eyeing jobs in the growing service sector.

The polys have, in turn, responded by expanding their intakes, offering new courses and also opportunities to gain work experience through internships in international theme parks and hotels.

Students are also chalking up experience through on-campus retail outlets, the latest of which opened on Thursday on the Republic Polytechnic (RP) campus.

Olivais RP's $2 million restaurant manned by its hospitality students under the supervision of their lecturers, who include former chefs from high-end hotels like Shangri-La and St Regis. The students will be rostered to handle all aspects of restaurant management - from menu planning to cooking meals and serving customers.

Temasek Polytechnic has a similar restaurant, Top Table, which opened in 2007.

Lecturers at the five polytechnics confirm that their tourism and hospitality-related courses are over-subscribed each year. At Singapore Polytechnic (SP), for example, a student needs an O-level score of 12 points or lower to get a place in the tourism and resort management course - on a par with the cut-off score for its business courses, which have been the most popular.

Chef instructors with students in the kitchen. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

Singapore patently ahead in Asian tech innovation

SINGAPORE is red-hot when it comes to harnessing the sun's energy. Amid concern over climate change, use of solar energy has grown, but pricey solar cells are vulnerable to water damage.

Enter a weatherproof film invented by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research. The Tera-Barrier film has drawn investment from solar equipment giant Applied Materials.

The patented technology is just one of a number of high-tech breakthroughs by Singapore researchers. These helped the country beat 12 other regional markets in terms of patent quality, according to the second Asia-Pacific Intellectual Property Scorecard released on Thursday at the Global IP Forum.

The Republic also took top spot in 2004 in the first study carried out by the National University of Singapore's Entrepreneurship Centre.

The research team analysed patents filed annually with the United States Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) by 13 markets, including China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, said the centre's director, Professor Wong Poh Kam.